Auks, Murres and Puffins

Dovekie

Alle alle
When Allen Kemnitzer parked on the bluffs just east of Sodus Bay on 14 November 1965, the wind was so strong and blustery out of the northwest that he stayed in his car, scanning the lake with 10-power binoculars. The flight was slow developing, but Kemnitzer was soon rewarded: A kittiwake flew by. And then, after 15 minutes, another. Another 15 minutes passed, and along came “two little birds with a buzzy flight skimming the waves near a flock of Greater Scaup.” Kemnitzer had seen alcids before on the ocean, so the flight of these birds was familiar. Their small size was apparent when they swung in among the scaup. And the color was right. (BA, 18 November 1965). They were Dovekies, diminutive, starling-sized alcids, the first seen in our region since the turn of the century. “When last seen, the dovekies were buzzing rapidly along in a westerly direction toward the Sodus piers and beyond.” (WBR, 22 November 1965).
Background
Literally tens of millions of these tiny, docile alcids are believed to breed in northwest Greenland, and winter off the North American coastline. They often show up out of range along the east coast of North America, and are sometimes stranded inland in “massive wrecks” of starving birds, especially when strong, sustained east winds of early winter force weakened birds landward. The winter of 1932-33, for example, “saw Dovekies raining down on the streets of New York City and large numbers washed up along the entire eastern seaboard, from Nova Scotia to Florida.” They nest in colonies on steep scree, talus slopes and om rubble at the foot of cliffs of coastal mountains. Dovekies feed primarily on crustaceans associated with ice edges and cold northern waters. Fewer than 1,000 pairs estimated to breed in North America; bulk of the population – about 30 million – nests at Thule in northwest Greenland. Other populations found at Svalbard and Russian Arctic. (BNA 701: 1-5, 14) As for New York, “The Dovekie is the most pelagic of the alcids occurring in our waters,” Bull (1974) wrote (Bull, p. 314). “On very rare occasions violent storms transport great numbers to coastal beaches, bays and inlets, or even far inland. It is at these times that the little birds are picked up in an exhausted condition, often starved or emaciated, or even found dead.”
Local history
Even in Eaton’s time, this highly pelagic species was known to sometimes straggle up the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario. Indeed, our region’s first record was November 1892 when one “was picked up in a garden at Sweden, about 15 miles from Lake Ontario and died soon after being found.” (Eaton 1:111-112) Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a casual, very rare visitant (then three records: November 1892; 23 December 1973 and 23 October 1978).
Occurrence
Only about a half-dozen records in our region. One November 1892 “picked up in a garden at Sweden.” (Eaton I: 111-112) Two on 14 November 1965 (Kemnitzer) at Sodus Bluff. (KB 16:32) One on 23 December 1973 (Kemnitzer) at Irondequoit Bay Outlet. (KB 24:74) Kemnitzer repeated his feat when, halfway between Irondequoit Bay outlet and Oklahoma Beach he “spotted a small, black and white bird flying just above the lake’s choppy waves with the typical buzzy flight of an Alcid,” John Brown reported (BA, 27 December 1973). The sun was shining; visibility was clear, with no thermal distortion; Kemnitzer got his 25-power scope on the bird, and was “able to compare its very small size with that of two following White-winged scoters. … There was no doubt in his mind that he was looking at a Dovekie…” One on 23 October 1978 (Listman) near Braddock Bay “seen headed east at top speed.” (KB 29:37) One on 22 September 1983 (Griffith) at Charlotte “riding a strong east wind close to shore.” (KB 34:43) Not accepted by NYSARC. (KB 34:220)(Note: One on 30 January 1996 over Lake Ontario off north end of Route 259, Town of Parma was not accepted by NYSARC. See KB 49:120. This sighting is not mentioned in the Goshawk, Little Gull or Kingbird.)

Thick-billed Murre

(formerly Brunnich’s Murre)Uria lomvia
On 25 November 1950, a “very severe northeast gale . . . felled many trees in the Adirondacks and caused great damage along the shores of Lake Ontario.” Winds of up to 75 miles per hour swept in a startling flight of murres – seagoing birds that nest on rocky coastal cliffs. Estimates ranged to more than 150 along the north and west shores of Lake Ontario – including two at Rochester and 11 in the Niagara Gorge. (B&M, p. 266) Upstate, “as many specimens (50+) were found dead from this 1950 storm alone, as Eaton recorded for the half-century – 1854 to 1907,” John Bull noted. (Bull, p. 313) It was presumed the birds had come up the St. Lawrence River valley; none was reported on Long Island or other coastal areas. One was captured alive at Allyn’s Creek Road and Clover Street on 29 November “after apparently coming down on ice in the mistaken idea that it was open water,” Edson reported. (WBR, 4 December 1950) Another was found dead on the beach at Durand-Eastman on 3 December. The Clover Street bird later died; “the skin has been preserved by the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences.” (GOS, September-December 1950) The 11 found at the Niagara gorge were “so weakened by the buffeting of the storm that none survived.” (B&M, p. 266)
Background
This robust, hardy bird is one of the most numerous marine birds in the Northern Hemisphere, nesting on precipitous sea cliffs in North America, Europe and Asia. In North America, breeding occurs primarily along the Alaska coast in the west, and as far south as the maritime provinces in the east. A single colony might number more than a million birds. In winter, birds vacate ice-covered portions of their range and shift farther south, including waters off northeast U.S. This is one of the deepest diving of all birds, occasionally descending more than 200 meters, and remaining underwater more than three minutes. Total world population estimated at 15 to 20 million, of which about three million breed in eastern Canada and about five million in Alaska. (BNA 497: 1-2, 21)As for New York, Bull (1974) noted, “this species occurs inland more than any other alcid, especially on the Great Lakes.” (Bull, p. 313).
Status
Monroe County annotated list (1985) described this as a casual, very rare visitant.
Occurrence
One 17 December 1895 no location given. (AL, p. 34, Eaton I: 109) March 1897 at Murray, Orleans County. (Eaton I: 109) The 1897 specimen had “been taken alive by hand, in a famished condition, on the ice of Sandy Creek,” explained Neil Posson, writing on “Some Birds of Unusual Occurrence in Orleans County, NY” in 1899. (Auk 16: 193) Posson said another had been picked up dead from the Lake Ontario shore in the town of Kendall. 4 December 1899 Lake Ontario at Monroe County. (Eaton I: 109) Four on 27 November and 2 December 1900 at Rochester. (Eaton I: 109) There was one other record in Wayne County as of 1910, according to Eaton’s charts of occurrence. (Eaton I: Wayne County chart) One 29 November 1950 Allyn’s Creek Road and Clover Street picked up alive and later died. (GOS, September-December 1950) One 3 December 1950 Durand Eastman Park found dead. (GOS, September-December 1950)

Ancient Murrelet

Synthliboramphus antiquus
A non-birder walking out the Charlotte pier on 4 November 1994 would no doubt have been struck by the seemingly bizarre behavior of a group of people with binoculars, cameras and spotting scopes on the Summerville Pier opposite. They were surging up and down the pier in unison, over and over again, intent on watching something just on the other side. The object of all this attention was New York’s only record of Ancient Murrelet, a Pacific seabird that rarely wanders as far as the East Coast. The murrelet, first spotted on 31 October, was “coming right down the east side of the Summerville pier, within five feet, actively diving for food, popping up for just an instant before diving again and surfacing 30 feet farther down.” And all those birders were trying to keep up with it. To the birder who first found this rarity, it was a “murrelet marathon.”
Background
This colonial seabird is found around the northern Pacific rim, from China to British Columbia, nesting in burrows dug in soft soil on coastal islands, but rearing its young entirely at sea. Birds visit colonies at night, assembling at gathering grounds in mid afternoon before arriving and again at dawn just after departure. “Of North American alcids, Ancient Murrelet is by far the most likely to occur well inland,” notes Anthony J. Gaston in his profile of this species for The Birds of North America series. Population estimates are poor, except in British Columbia, where about half a million breed. Several hundred thousand are likely in Alaska. Total worldwide population may be 1-2 million. This is much diminished from the past because of the introduction of mammalian predators such as rats (accidentally) or fox (for fur) on islands used for breeding. (BNA 132:1, 3, 6-7, 11-12)
Status
Casual, very rare visitant.
Occurrence
Only one record.Rochester’s murrelet marathon began when Bob Marcotte walked out the Charlotte Pier at 8:45 a.m. on 31 October. His expectations of seeing anything interesting almost immediately “dwindled” because of the calm conditions. Other than a few Bonaparte’s Gulls circling at the end of the Summerville Pier, “there didn’t seem to be anything around.” That’s when he saw the murrelet, sitting on the water off the end of the Summerville Pier, right below a fisherman seated at the edge. “I put the scope on the bird, and began to make a sketch,” he wrote (GOS, December 1994). “Two Coast Guard vessels churned by, seemingly only a few yards from the bird.” It stayed. “Something about the bird suggested it wasn’t going anywhere soon.” That’s when Marcotte dashed to a pay phone to call Carolyn Cass, then to his home a mile or so away to grab his camera and field guides. John Bounds arrived and kept watch from the Charlotte Pier. Carolyn Cass was next on the scene; both she and Marcotte began studying the bird more closely as it foraged near the pier. Marcotte had initially suspected Marbled Murrelet, because of a sighting the prior year at Ogdensburg. Closer examination quickly revealed that the markings added up not to Marbled, but Ancient. As many as 20 to 30 birders at a time stood in the pouring rain later that day to observe the bird. Birders arrived from Buffalo, Albany and Syracuse to observe it on 4 November. “It seems to have a regular pattern of movement,” Marcotte noted in his diary, “actively working down the side of the pier, very close, diving frequently, totally nonchalant about birders peering down at it from almost directly overhead, then breaking off, moving out to the east away from the pier, heading back north and diving much less frequently, taking more time to preen or just float on the surface, before starting back (along the pier) again” to feed. Bob and Sue Spahn watched it pursue minnows “which would ball up, much like starlings with a hawk present. The murrelet, essentially flying under water, was seen to use its wings to make rapid twists and turns through the balls of minnows.” “At times photographers could focus by noting minnows leaping from the surface just before the bird would appear, minnow in bill.” Twice a fishing boat towing lines and floats behind and to each side came right at the bird. It would wait until the last minute, then dive out of sight and pop up just beyond one of the floats. An Ancient Murrelet that flew west past the Hamlin Beach Lakewatch on 8 November was presumed to be the same bird. On 13 November presumably the same bird was feeding next to piers extending into Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Welland Canal near St. Catherine’s, Ontario, about 85 miles west of Rochester. (KB 45:148-152) Accepted by NYSARC. (KB 46:297)

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